Hard-Fi - Cash Machine EP

Genre rock Publisher Necessary/Atlantic Records External Links Official Website Necessary Records

Hailing from the UK (Staines, England to be exact) and melding reggae, punk, and new wave with an obvious debt to the Madchester scene (particularly Happy Mondays), Hard-Fi's first toe dip into the American pond is an energetic and ingratiating effort.

Working with dance rhythms and rock guitar, House music keys, and even a little melodica, Hard-Fi's Cash Machine makes up for what it lacks in musical innovation (Kasabian are doing this sort of thing much better right now). With a lack of pretense as well as by communicating the mindset of a young, working-class society, the band show much potential.

What most will be talking about when Hard-Fi is brought up will be their cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." Credit the band for not accentuating the novelty of what is essentially an anemic castoff track, one that is fairly subjugated to the end of the EP. Yeah, reworking the Jack White-penned song into a dub track yields listenable results, but not enough to allow it to dwarf the band's originals.

On the title track, over snare slaps and funk bass lines, vocalist Richard Archer sings about "working for the cash machine," later intoning, "There's a hole in my pocket/My pocket." "Tied Up Too Tight" is a galloping song that sounds akin to The Prodigy crossed with Blur. "Sick Of It All" intersperses a dub vibe with a rave-up replete with distorted vocals ("Makes me feeeellll/Like nothing's reeeeaaalll").

With the Cash Machine EP, Hard-Fi have presented three songs that best showcase their sound for an emerging audience. Their full-length due in early 2006, will be the true test of their abilities, but for now Hard-Fi deliver the goods.